Poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The House of Life. Sonnet 99. Newborn Death - 1

To-day Death seems to me an infant child
Which her worn mother Life upon my knee
Has set to grow my friend and play with me;
If haply so my heart might be beguil'd
To find no terrors in a face so mild,
If haply so my weary heart might be
Unto the newborn milky eyes of thee,
O Death, before resentment reconcil'd.

How long, O Death? And shall thy feet depart
Still a young child's with mine, or wilt thou stand
Fullgrown the helpful daughter of my heart,
What time with thee indeed I reach the strand
Of the pale wave which knows thee what thou art,
And drink it in the hollow of thy hand?

1. The House of Life. Sonnet 61. The Song-Throe
2. The House of Life. Sonnet 84. Farewell to the Glen
3. The House of Life. Sonnet 14. Youth's Spring-Tribute
4. The House of Life. Sonnet 45. Secret Parting
5. The House of Life. Sonnet 87. Death's Songsters

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